#every day is Kaladin appreciation day

[lamaery]

some rough scribbles... from a train ride today. Kaladin and Leshwi doing their dance in the sky.

#every day is Kaladin appreciation day #stormlight archive #cosmere #brandon sanderson #cfsbf #procreate #roshar #kaladin #scribbles #character art #leshwi #fight #windrunner #heavenly ones #rhythm of war #rhythm of war spoilers #row spoilers #weird poses #hooray

[nevertheless-moving]

stormlight au number 35 (help me i'm lost in the sauce)

Jasnah, Dalinar, and Renarin (surviving Kholin Radiants) travel from End of World all the way to right after Gavilar's death.

Vengeance pact still happens, but plays out very differently. We don't need absolutely every man in the kingdom to join the army, alright Elhokar? And we're making sure Dalinar is there to accept their surrender, actually win in reasonable time frame and 'conquer' them (no Alethi want to live out there anyway, and as long as they send gemhearts in tribute we won't enslave them. actually elhokar, your sister wanted to talk to you about slavery—).

Honestly, just an excuse for:

A) Adolin to have a breakdown that his entire family has been replaced by voidbringers, before eventually accepting with relief that they're still his family, they've just become voidbringers, but its ok because he loves them and will protect their increasingly heretical actions with his life. Hugs his glowing red and green eyed little brother a lot.

Adolin: do I — should I also learn to read?

Jasnah: do you want to?

Adolin: not really, no.

Renarin: to be honest, it's probably for the best if you just focus on being, well, a good Vorin Alethi. One of us probably should be, if we don't have a desolation as a distraction.

Adolin: ok! sure! I can do that. Also thought id mention that if possible, I would personally appreciate *not* having a desolation.

Jasnah: it may prove necessary.

Adolin: I know, i know. Just thought I'd put my feelings out there.

Dalinar: and we'll need you to produce Kholin heirs. Neither Renarin or Jasnah are likely to, and I'm not remarrying a younger woman.

Adolin: Sounds good!

B) Kholin family to have way too strong a reaction to this random darkeyed surgeon in training when they visit Kharbranth, scaring the absolute shit out of said darkeyed surgeon. Adolin walks into a wall when he sees Kaladin. He doesn't even know about the Radiant thing, it's just that

C) Kaladin dresses really hot in this au. Ok. I lied. this is actually the main reason for this au. It — there's a whole chain of events. I – don't look at me like that. The character development works, alright?

A lot of it boils down to distracting people from groping the female medical trainees.

He realizes that breathing in a certain way, while it makes you focus better and move faster, it also makes you more...present somehow? people pay attention to you, for better or worse. Some of the ladies teach him that there are different ways to channel people's focus on you, if they're looking anyway.

And apparently, for the first few years Kharbranth medical students, light and dark eyed alike, have basically no protections from wealthy patients or Lighteyed chief's of staff who are a bit too interested in teaching you to use your safehand, and its not like Kaladin can challenge them to a duel - he doesnt know how to fight, and it would get him and the person hes trying to protect kicked out of the program. So much for honorable lighteyes being real.

But I mean. If wearing some eyeliner, and a gemstone in your hair, if taking your right glove off first after an exam, conspicuously leaving the left on while talking, if bending over to pick his clipboard up in a certain way... if it gets people to not focus on his friends...

...one could probably get pretty angsty with this concept, ngl.

The Stormlight understanding and oaths come in time. There might also be some Radiant Disguise Superhero hijinks, havent fully decided but it's not really a major stretch from canon to say that Kharbranth struggles with violent crime. Also Kaladin gets to learn about institutional racism in school. It's great. I have a lot of Kaladin thoughts but so does everyone in this au so its ok.

Kholins visit Kharbranth:

Jasnah: you've been moping for days. Is your new fixation of the week not responding to your advances?

Adolin: I don't want to talk about it

Dalinar: son, you've clearly been in a mood—

Adolin: look, I'm not — the individual is not suitable for my station, alright? I'm not courting someone I could never actually marry, because that would be stupid.

Jasnah: while it would complicate matters, you know your brother and I have plans to alter the alethi codes around eye color, considering they're clearly a crude derivative of radiant mythologization

Dalinar: I thought we agreed that was low on the priority list

Jasnah: You said that uncle, Renarin most certainly did not agree, and his arguments are sound

Adolin: He's just some surgeon, alright! He's not just darkeyed, he's a darkeyed man. I said I'll get over it! I always do.

Dalinar: ah.

Jasnah: ...did you say surgeon?

Adolin: Yes? Why?

Dalinar: why does it —

Jasnah: how did you meet?

Adolin: He was — he was with this group of women at a winebar, and he was dressed like – but it turned out he just goes to protect them from - and it was so — why are you asking me about this?

Dalinar: Oh! A darkeyed surgeon. Protecting, you say? He sounds...honorable.

Jasnah: Very honorable.

Adolin: He is! He volunteers at this house for injured soldiers, and you wouldn't believe he'd never been to war, I mean his spear Katas — he's – it's like he was born for it —

Dalinar: He sounds like a fine young man. Perhaps you should bring him to meet us.

Adolin: I — while I appreciate that father, I really do, I thought I was the one who was supposed to well. I mean my role in...all of this is to produce heirs and look proper, right?

Jasnah: Hm. when you put it it that way...

Dalinar: I mean, Navani and I might be able to...

Jasnah: Don't be ridiculous. I'm perfectly capable of producing a child, should it prove absolutely necessary,

Adolin: Jasnah?

Jasnah: Provided the man you're courting is of worthy quality.

Adolin: We're not — I haven't been courting! I didn't think it was an option! I don't even know if he's interested! From what I can tell he has people throwing themselves at his feet all the time!

Jasnah: An abnormally honorable darkeyed surgeon, natural warrior, magnetically charismatic personality...yes that might make a worthwhile addition to the family.

Dalinar: I can write to Elhokar at once, recommend that he and Aseuden —

Jasnah: Uncle we've been over this — this is exactly the sort of thing that led to me insisting you come with me on this trip! If we cripple his ability to lead—

Adolin: Are we — are we moving into the discussing the future part of the evening, because I can go guard the door—

Dalinar: wait, when you say produce a child, you don't mean through soulcasting, right?

Jasnah: I don't see why I should answer that question.

Adolin: Yeah, i'm just going to go guard the door now

#stormlight archive #my au #stormlight au #nevertheless cosmere #stormlight au no 35 #adolin kholin #just to be clear adolin fully believes his family is voidbringers now he's just ride or die #they kept the time travel thing secret at first and then when he hysterically confronted them they explained kind of badly. #Dalinar: we're not—well technically we are the voidbringers. but that term is widely misunderstood! #and once Adolin was convinced they were still the same people he stopped asking religious questions

[stormywitcher]

So, I have just come home from Alton Towers (a theme park) and of course my autistic brain went a bit nuts in the queues so here is my take on what stormlight characters would do at a theme park lol:

Adolin: absolutely loves everything about the place, gets stupidly excited and practically runs from ride to ride, gets pissed off when the others don’t move fast enough and THERES ONLY A 15 MIN QUEUE SO COME ON LETS GO! he screams and whoops on rides and eats too many donuts and candy floss. yes he is sick at the end of it but so fuckin worth it.

Shallan: enjoys the vibes of the park, absolutely fascinated with how each area is themed and sketches in the queues. she’s more reserved on the rides than Adolin, but does laugh hysterically on them instead of screaming.

Navani: yes she enjoys the park, but is more interested how the rides work. Dalinar has to restrain her from asking a million questions to the ride staff. she goes on the odd ride but is usually quite quiet, focusing on the feeling of the mechanics. she has a secret love of shitty churros lol.

Renarin: fuck the theme park, only goes to please everyone else. it’s too loud, too many colours and there’s people everywhere. NO, ADOLIN, I WILL NOT GO ON THAT DEATH TRAP. he is the personal bag watcher while everyone else goes on. The only thing he does enjoy is the carnival games and is a weirdly good shot, so wins shit tons of stuffed toys.

Kaladin: tolerates the group holiday. went on one big ride, felt terrified and mildly sick and decided to only go on small ones after. weirdly loves water rides, gets fuckin so hyped on the river boat rapids. he wants to enjoy the day more, but can’t help worrying a bit every time the others are on a ride in case it goes wrong.

Jasnah: weirdly enjoys the park and actually lets loose a little. she appreciates the idea of creating false reality for entertainment, mixed with the cleverness and thrill of the rides. absolute control freak tho, and has a detailed map and schedule for the day.

Dalinar: activates full on Dad mode. has everyone drank enough? there’s a lot of walking, has everyone brought appropriate footwear? SHALLAN PUT SOME SUNCREAM ON OR SO HERALDS HELP ME. actually loves the rides tho, and follows all the rules of the park to the letter. sits next to Adolin on a ride once and ends up going nuts and screaming with him.

Hoid: disappears for periods of time and refinds the the group now and then. he hacks the arcade games and keeps coming back with more coins. no one questions it when one minute he’s sat on a ride next to them and the next he’s suddenly not there…

Thats all I’ve got, but please feel free to reblog/tag with more characters lol, or to add to this ahahahhaha!

#mossy thoughts #fanfic #stormlight archive #brandon sanderson #kaladin stormblessed #cosmere #adolin kholin #shallan davar #dalinar kholin #navani kholin #jasnah kholin #renarin kholin #kholin #stormlight headcannon #way of kings #words of radiance #oathbringer #rhythm of war

[the-vibes-are-off]

The Stormlight Archive Volume 1: The Way of Kings’ Review: Chapters 5-8

link to contents page - https://at.tumblr.com/the-vibes-are-off/hey-hey/96xd9ohihrzs

Right, well, you know how I said in my previous post that my COVID test was negative? Yeah so I was swiftly clowned and I am now SICK right on essay season. I have dug out crusty dusty old HP Pavilion to do work but I’m essentially only using it for Tumblr so. My partner is officially in another country now (I know you’re going to read this so pls come back I am dying) so I cant even be babied 24/7 due to the time difference. On season 4 of Criminal Minds already tho so ....

In terms of reading, I am officially back and LOVING it. I am limiting myself to 4 chapters in one setting because that’s how much I want my review sections to cover and writing this takes longer than I thought it would tbh. Lets get to it! 

Spoiler Free Zone:

The split narrative is like definitely managing my problems with maintaining my attention. I will say that since Kaladin’s story line, although definitely interesting don’t get me wrong, would probably get boring if it was all I was reading. I’m more a magic and lore and pretty women fantasy enjoyer than a grr fight fantasy enjoyer since my like gritty lit enjoyment comes from different genres.

Loving the direction that Shallan’s plot line is going in, I’m glad Brandon doesn’t just give the characters what they want straight away and there is at least the illusion that they’re working for something even though its obvious they’ll achieve it eventually.

Mostly, I’m just loving the characters they’re introducing in Shallan’s story, maybe not so much SOME people (a certain person specifically I dislike is beginning, BEGINNING to grow on me) as they’re just so lovely and cute and nice and ugh we love to see it.

*** SPOILERS INCOMING ***

Spoiler Zone:

I’m saying it now, I did initially think Jasnah was just a bitch tbh like I get she’s all important and up her own ass or whatever but she doesn’t appreciate art??? I get Shallan like couldnt just get what she wanted but like .... come on. I was so mad when she just started shouting n shit when Shallan was waiting in the alcove like get a grip pls. However.... turning a boulder to smoke? I had to tab that as cool, like that was just a smart idea to clear it and a cool fckn power to have 

Shallan wanting to steal tho? I love her, a true icon as she should steal from the bitch. I literally just tabbed it love this bc ? Slay like what else could I do. I’d steal it too 

aaaaaaaaand then were back to Kaladin actually just getting fucking shit on at every turn yet again. mf has to carry a bridge?? and then get shot at with arrows?? my goodness give this man a break 

The spren getting a name tho like Syl is acc like carrying Kaladin’s arc for me I want to know what is going on there I am trying so hard not to spoil it for myself

From an arts and humanities student standpoint, I did tab Shallan describing how she views her art and the process of creation as like fleshy and human. Like in both studying and writing poetry I relate to capturing a person or a place or a moment on paper 

And then 2 cuties that I simply had to draw attention to in Brother Kabsal and Yalb. They are iconic and I adore them the end :*

Tab Count:

Cute: 2

Fights: 1

Sad: 1 

Death: 0

Cool: 0 

Wtf wow: 1

Wtf why: 0 

Slay Quotes: 0 

Love this: 2

Hate this: 0

Tab Total:

Cute: 3

Fights: 4

Sad: 1

Death: 2

Cool: 4

Wtf wow: 2

Wtf why: 1

Slay Quotes: 3

Love this: 5

Hate this: 1

PS: If anyone actually reads this far down comment (or post me if you’re feeling generous) your fave tea to drink when you’re sick because I’m going through maybe 10 cups a day and I am swiftly running out....

#brandon sanderson #the way of kings #stormlight archive #kaladin stormblessed #kaladin #shallan #shallan davar #jasnah kholin #book #books #books and reading #book review #fantasy #high fantasy #book tabbing #book annotations #english literature #literature #literature review

[softsnowydreamer]

Date Night

Pairing: Neteyam x OC (Female Omatikaya Reader)

Note From Author: this is a small snippet from a story that I am writing on Wattpad, decided to share it with y’all! There is no use of y/n, it’s solely based off of my story that I am trying to write. It’s my first ever written short story so please be nice! Any advice is welcome! Also PSA CHARACTERS ARE AGED UP!!

CW: mentions of scars, mentions of pregnancy, fluff, semi sexual tension

^If I miss anything on the CW.. please let me know!

{Semi proofread}

Small Background Info: the sully family had taken refuge amongst the winter mist clan, Zidari (oc) is the next in line for being leader. Zidari and Kaladdin are arranged to be mated but on the night of the sully families rebirth into the winter mist clan after learning the ways of the people, Zidari and Neteyam had mated.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

The next day was surprisingly warm with cold winds, Zidari had been helping her clan with anything and everything.

Neteyam had left with the war party and has been gone since early morning, Zidari didn't mind. She had a lot of stuff on her mind and needed to think about what to do, how she was going to break the news of being mated to Neteyam. She was stressing out all day. She had avoided her mother and Kaladin mostly.

Zidari was helping Kiri with gathering some herbs, since their herbs were a lot different than the Omaticaya clans, Zidari had explained each and every single one that they had gathered.

Zidari loved spending time with the girl, even though they weren't so close, Kiri appreciated the company of the princess. "Come let's go start organizing and getting everything ready for when the war party comes back" Kiri nodded her head and followed beside the princess, their arms linked together.

Location: Sully home/hut

Kiri and Zidari sat there in Kiri's secluded room organizing and separating the herbs, they were laughing and talking about whatever came to mind.

The horn blew and the sound of direhorses could be heard along with the screeching of the Ikrans, Kiri grabbed ahold of Zidari and pulled her out of the home and to the entrance where everyone gathered. To greet their loved ones, friends. Yuna stood at the entrance of her home and watched from afar, she knew something was off about her daughter, the mood swings, the sickness she had endured, the fatigue.

Yuna kept her eyes trained on her daughter. Watching her like a hawk.

Kaladin was leading this war party and had returned, next to him was Neteyam, and on the other side was Lo'ak, following behind was Jake and then the rest of the group. Zidari looked at Neteyam as his face held a stoic expression, yet his eyes showed something else that tugged at her heartstrings.

Kaladin dismounted the direhorse and walked over to Yuna to give her the details of the patrol, everyone else dismissed to join with their friends and family. Neteyam walked over to Zidari and sighed heavily.

"Are you okay?" She asked him as his head was lowered, "I don't want to think about what happened— tonight, let's go flying, just you and me. A date" he replied with a strain voice yet the sound of hope lacing his words as he looked up at the girl.

Zidari gave him a fanged smile, "a date would be lovely" Neteyam smiled and kissed her on the forehead, "great! I will come get you from your place at eclipse" Neteyam stated, Kiri stared at the couple in awe, she was so happy and excited for her older brother.

"Princess, your mother requested your presence" a warrior stated and Zidari nodded her head in acknowledgement, "see you tonight" she replied and left with the warrior to go see what her mother had wanted.

Neteyam waited until she was out of ear shot and smiled at his sister, "okay so— Kiri I am going to need your help" he pleaded and Kiri looked at him in confusion, "with what?" Neteyam chuckled nervously.

"So since I am of age now, I am being given my own place to live in and well... I would like your help to make it look romantic for tonight" Neteyam asked and Kiri looked at her brother with wide eyes, "oh my gosh! I will definitely help you!" Kiri jumped with joy and hugged her brother, they both laughed.

"Let's go see your new place and let's get started!" Kiri stated and linked her arm with Neteyam's and he led the way to his new place.

Meanwhile...

Zidari sat in front of her mother and Kaladin, no one was speaking so it was quiet but the only sound that was heard was the crackling of the fire, Yuna cleared her throat and straightened her posture.

"My daughter, Eywa has given me a vision and I am denying that it is true... but I need to hear it from you. Now" she commanded and Zidari looked at her mother in confusion, "well what did Eywa show you mother?" Yuna huffed. "My daughter, our great mother had shown me that you are carrying Kaladin's child" Zidari's breath caught in her throat, so it is true... the vision she showed me on the night of the rebirth of the Sully family, oh great mother why.. Zidari thought as she saw Kaladin with a smile on his face at the mention of her being pregnant.

"It's new to me... I had no knowledge of being pregnant— I didn't think it would happen so fast" Zidari conceded, Kaladin looked at Yuna, "well this is good news! Now you and Kaladin can officially mate!" Yuna stated in happiness and Kaladin got up and pulled Zidari into his chest.

"I'm ready for this, I've always loved you Zidari" he stated and Zidari pushed him away from her, "no. I refuse" she declared and walked out of the home, Kaladin and Yuna were shouting at her to come back.

Zidari ran all the way to a secluded waterfall that never froze, she fell to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. Her head cradled into her hands as she cried, the waterfall covering her loud screams of anger and pain. She cursed Eywa for the decision of planting a child in her womb.

Kaladin was not the one she had chosen. Her mind immediately thought of Neteyam and she remembered how he acted when he found out that she was destined to be mated to Kaladin.

Her heart clenched at the thought and she kept crying. The waterfall consuming her cries, her screams, her shouting, her prayers. It allowed her to feel her emotions all at once, to feel the pain of her mistakes.

6 Hours Later...

Neteyam and Kiri had finished up decorating the home, they had help from the clans humans that were there such as Norm and Max, because well they needed help with the choice of sheets and blankets.

After they finished up decorating, Neteyam hugged Kiri and thanked her along with Max and Norm for their help. Max and Norm dismissed themselves and Kiri looked at her brother, "you are in love dear brother. She is perfect for you" Neteyam smiled at his sister and she smiled back.

"Go and get ready, I will start the fire and adjust the lighting so that it's dim in here. Oh! Also I shall bring a basket of fruit too!" Neteyam thanked her again and rushed back to his family's home and bumped into Lo'ak and his father.

"Dad, Lo'ak I need your help" Jake looked at his oldest son, "sure son, what is it?" Neteyam then explained everything that was going to happen. Lo'ak immediately went off and began saddling up Neteyam's Ikran and Zidari's.

Jake helped his son with finding the perfect loincloth and helped him with his riding gear. The cummerbund laid perfectly on his toned abdomen, the arm band, leg guards, his necklace and neck piece for just in case, and his arm band that held a feather.

Neytiri heard from Lo'ak of what was happening and came to help. She fixed his braids, the beads that was woven through his hair, the feather that rested behind his ear. Once his father and mother finished, they stepped back and smiled at their oldest son.

"My son... so grown up" Neytiri spoke softly as she hugged him, Jake placed his hand upon his shoulder and smiled proudly. "Keep your weapons when you go flying, be careful okay? Also, if anything goes down, please remove the comm device" Neteyam chuckled, "yes sir" with that Neteyam took a nervous breath and left.

He went to go find Zidari.

Zidari had went back home to get ready, she did her hair, she dressed in different clothing and sighed happily. She placed a flower in her hair and smiled.

"There is someone here for you" her mother said and walked away, Zidari grabbed her riding visor and sped walked to see who it was. When she peeled open the beaded cover, there stood Neteyam. He looked so handsome in his black loincloth, his songcord hanging from the string that held it in place, his riding gear worn perfectly on his toned body.

"Hi" Zidari said with a smile, Neteyam admired the girl in front of him, she looked beautiful. Neteyam smiled, "ready to go?" Zidari nodded her head and she took his hand. They walked through the clan talking and laughing, it was eclipse and they finally made it to a high point mountain where the flying patrols normally mount their Ikrans.

Lo'ak stood there and smiled at the couple, "your Ikrans are ready" Neteyam hugged his brother and Zidari smiled at the two. "Let's fly" Zidari laughed and mounted her ikran while Neteyam nodded his head at his brother and mounted his ikran as well.

The two took off, the night sky was beautiful. Their bioluminescent freckles lighting up their features, the wind was at a easy pace as they flew in the sky. Laughing and enjoying the night fly.

They flew through the mountains, up and over and under them, they flew through waterfalls, they circled each other and raced through the sky. Admiring the sky and looking down below at the Winter Mist clan, Neteyam and Zidari yipped and whooped at each other. Huge happy smiles adorned their faces, they were truly happy.

They circled each other one more time and this time their Ikrans closed in on one another and then dove backwards in a back flip like motion, laughter erupted from the two.

Soon after they finished up flying, they headed back to the clan and landed on the high point mountain where Lo'ak and Nayila stood. "That was amazing" Zidari said with pure love and happiness, they dismounted the Ikrans and let Nayila and Lo'ak unsaddle them and allow them to rest now.

"Good luck big brother" Lo'ak whispered and Nayila held a thumbs up to Zidari. They both laughed and waved bye to the others.

"Now what?" Zidari questioned as Neteyam held her hand and they were walking, "I have something else to end the night with" Neteyam mentioned as they kept walking. "All ready for you big brother" Kiri said through the comm device and Neteyam chuckled.

Once they were in sight, Zidari looked at the home and looked at Neteyam, "this is my home" Neteyam claimed and Zidari gasped at the beautiful home. "Come" Neteyam led Zidari inside and she marveled at the beautifully decorated home, Kiri greeted the two and left the home, she was smirking at her brother.

"It's beautiful" she whispered and Neteyam led her to the bed. They both sat down on the bed and looked at each other. "Zidari... I want to—" Neteyam could feel his nerves eating at him, Zidari placed her hand upon his cheek, "I want to as well.. it's okay" she soothed him and he felt his heart pull towards her.

They were mated already, why was he so nervous? But before they did anything, Zidari and Neteyam moved to the soft carpet and sat there talking and laughing, they ate pieces of the fruit that was in the basket that had been provided by Kiri and took their time for each other. Neteyam didn't want to make her uncomfortable and rush her into anything so he didn't mind that they laid on the carpet, talking, laughing and eating fruit.

Zidari was laying on her back as Neteyam was laying on his side, leaning on his hand that held him up. He adored her, the flickering flame of light reflected off of her and highlighted her body, Neteyam lightly turned her face to him and leaned in, kissing her ever so gently, Zidari returned the kiss.

The two took their time with the kissing, allowing it to heat up on its own. The kiss grew passionate between the two, Neteyam could hear his family in the comm device so he immediately made a noise and took off the device placing it away from him and his mate.

He hovered over the girl and admired her as he pulled away from the kiss to catch his breath. Her lips swollen, her breathing was heavy, her eyes were heavy with lust, he smiled at his mate.

"You are so beautiful, my love" he whispered and she blushed, Neteyam then sat up and had lifted Zidari up to lay her down on the bed. The girl watched him as he took off his riding gear, she admired his body, his muscles and toned v line where the cummerbund laid above. Everything about him, she absolutely adored and wanted to worship.

After he took off his riding gear, he went to the end of the bed and began kissing along her legs. Each kiss was gentle, he saw the faint scars that adorned her skin, he could hear her soft breathing and a few whimpers here and there.

He kissed her knee as his hands trailed up her legs, "my love... show me your scars" he suddenly said as he was sitting in between her legs, she looked at him, "but why?" She asked. "I want to see how many times you needed me and I wasn't there," he whispered. As he saw the tears brim her green eyes, she nodded and he helped her undress fully.

He removed the flower that held her hair pinned back and she laid back down. Neteyam then looked over her body, every scar that littered her body, he kissed. He could hear her sniffling quietly at the gesture he was doing. He felt his heart break at the many scars that was inflicted by those who hurt her. By those who tortured her. He kissed every scar, every reminder of her past.

After the vulnerable moment, she wiped away her tears and he went back to admiring her body. The perfect curves, the way her freckles littered her skin, the shape of her body, the way her chest rose for each breath she took.

He couldn't help but stare. She looked like an angel that had come down from heaven to tempt me. Her eyes were softly glowing and her hair fell in silky waves all the way to the small of her back. She looked so innocent and pure. It only made me want to corrupt her all that more. The devil in me couldn't help but be enraptured by her ethereal beauty, in its utter perfection. He thought to himself as he then trailed kisses up her stomach all the way to her neck. He could hear her desperate whimpers. It sparked everything in him, but he wanted to take his time. He wanted the night to be perfect.

©️softsnowydreamer 2023. || All rights reserved. Do not repost, reupload, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

#neteyam fanfiction #neteyam sully #neteyam x oc #neteyam atwow #atwow fanfiction #avatar fanfiction #short story #original writing #snow’s original writing ✍🏼 #snow’s works✏️

[waxflowerwoes]

Ooh ask games! Orchid and cactus?

orchid: what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

achilles come down by gang of youths. it has all you could ask for. enchanting vocals. amazing lyrics. impressive length. a cello. distinct character voices even tho it's just one dude singing. and of course, a lot of kaladin stormblessed energy, which i appreciate. i have a playlist that is just this song for when i'm having a breakdown. every time i hear it, my brain is reset.

cactus: something you’re currently learning (about)?

i love love love this question. i guess over the course of about seven months, i've been learning a lot about cancer. it's an absolutely wild class of diseases that i one day want to help send into the eeby deeby. however sending it to the eeby deeby is very complicated and multifaceted (because realistically it will be around as long as humans are around). but hey that's why i'm planning on getting several degrees.

#dude i could talk about cancer foreverrrrr #i'm particularly interested in developing immunotherapies. #ever since my first microbiology/immunology professor mentioned modified t cells i have been CAPTIVATED

[emrystheedgedancer]

I posted 335 times in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Also I would like to add my love for Marasi too. I love that she loves comfort and being clean. I love that she’s feminine without being a damsel, but not the all-too-common-these-days “strong woman who is so powerful they don’t need anyone and have no personality” type character

I just think that Marasi and Steris (among others) are living evidence that it is possible to write more traditionally feminine women who are still strong in their own ways without making it a cliche.

151 notes - Posted October 4, 2022

#4

Me every time a random word is capitalized in the Cosmere:

214 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

#3

I also love that Brandon made Wax an older man. I love a good 20 year old adventurer but I think that putting him in his 40’s and still trying to figure himself out was such a good move. It lends a kind of gravitas to the story and also proves that you don’t have to have everything figured out by 30.

Wax goes through so many struggles and redefinitions of his character. It’s refreshing to see an older person still have a journey to travel in fantasy

261 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

#2

Sometimes I can barely believe that Warbreaker is a Branderson novel

268 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

“Idealism should have a cost”

This is from Brandon’s chapter annotations of the Well of Ascension. It’s for chapter 38, the chapter where Elend officially and finally gets deposed from the throne.

And I just love this. Elend Venture is one of my favorite characters in fiction because of this idea. Idealism has a cost. Honesty has a cost. And Elend learns that the most brutal way he can and then is STILL a good man after.

I think in fiction there’s a tendency to make fun of good men. Most people I know tend to be more interested in the Kaz Brekkers or Darklings or Phantoms or Snapes instead of the Mals, Raouls, and Harrys. There’s nothing wrong with that but I do wonder if it’s because most writers don’t bother to give their good men interesting things to do and challenging ways to develop like Brandon does. They tend to put their heroes in challenging situations to learn some lesson but rarely ever show much of a change inside. They don’t test their morals at their core, they only show how those morals are applied to the world.

Elend is a brilliant character because he shows what it is to truly have your morals tested. That last part in chapter 38, where only Elend and one other person in the room know that the law says they can change their vote- it’s so good. Many men would have lied. Elend knows that lying will keep him his throne. But he doesn’t. And because of his honesty and idealism he has to sacrifice what he knows is best and what he wants.

I just appreciate the attention that Brandon pays to good men rather than having flat good men and interesting grey men or villains as so many others do. Elend is a good man. Kaladin is a good man. But they are also flawed men, who still have to learn and grow and sacrifice. Kaladin sacrifices for his idealism all the time.

I just really love Elend Venture okay

272 notes - Posted October 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #psyched my most popular post is about Elend #I love him

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2021: The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

I have a few things to acknowledge here before we get into the proper review - this is REALLY LONG and VERY CRITICAL. I promise you I do genuinely love The Stormlight Archive, but if you are someone who doesn’t like to see criticism of Sanderson or Stormlight, then please don’t read this.

This review has spoilers for The Stormlight Archive - you have been warned.

I’ve made no secret of my love for the Stormlight Archive - it’s my favourite ongoing fantasy series. I’ve also avoided reviewing it, and I’ve been putting it off since I first read it back in 2016 (could be 2017? It was a while ago.) How could I review something I love so much? How do I approach reviewing a 1,100 page epic fantasy novel? I just didn’t know. To be honest, I still don’t. I adore this series, it’s become part of my identity - if you asked any of my friends what’s Lizzie’s favourite book they would probably say Stormlight. Maybe Lord of the Rings but that’s a different kettle of fish.

I’ve reread The Stormlight Archive annually for the last five years. I promise myself I won’t reread it and let myself come back in anticipation for the next book. I’ve failed miserably every year. And these aren’t small undertakings - they’re each 1,000 pages and there’s four of them now! For context I usually only read 2,500 pages a month. 

So, I’ve finally decided to review these doorstoppers dressed up as fantasy novels. These reviews are mainly for myself, they’re going to be self indulgent, long, and focus on what I want to discuss like characters, structure, and prose - rather than reviewing the things I should probably talk about (like the actual plot…) I want to work through all the things I love about this behemoth of the modern fantasy genre, but also focus on its flaws. The praise for Sanderson is everywhere, so I want to work through my honest opinion of these books, work out why I love them, and I’ll invite you on this journey of self discovery with me. 

Structure

I’m yet to work out why I’m starting with structure but we are, I guess it helps with the framing. In case you’re reading this having not read The Way of Kings, each book in the Stormlight Archive is made up of 5 main parts that follow major viewpoint characters, and the parts are split up with small interludes that expand the worldbuilding, follow important secondary characters, or foreshadow future moments. Everybook is centred on a key character - in The Way of Kings it’s Kaladin - who we follow in the present day as a major viewpoint character and explore their backstory through a flashback sequence. Each book also has a prologue which retells the assassination of the Alethi king, Gavilar Kholin, and an epilogue from Wit. 

Firstly, this book takes FAR too long to get going and even longer to get into as a reader. I’m not joking when I say there are FIVE introductory chapters: the prelude, a prologue, Cenn’s second prologue (technically the first chapter but it’s a prologue), Kaladin’s introduction, and Shallan’s introduction. It’s too much. We’re jumping around, nothing really makes sense, and we’re not sure how these characters are related. They could be taking place in different worlds for all you know on a first read.

When I first read this book I was a lot more patient with long introductions and multiple false starts - I had the time to dedicate to getting into the story. I could, and did, forgive the THREE false starts to this story before we get to Kaladin’s first chapter. However, the opening structure of this novel is a mistake. If someone gives up in this section I honestly don’t blame them - if I was reading this for the first time in 2021 I probably would too.

The prelude and prologue are both excellent. The prelude in particular is weird and confusing but also sets up a clear mystery and sense of the sheer scope of this story. Szeth’s prologue, the first time we see Gavilar’s assassination, is flawed but still wonderful. The fight scene needed a bit of cutting, for my tastes, and I think the introduction to the magic system is clumsy - there’s far too much obvious info dumping and it needed some serious editing, especially as the complicated use of the magic that Szeth uses is barely relevant in this book. However, I think the Herald’s giving up the Oathpact and a magical assassin is great! They’re a bit weird and you’re not sure what’s going on, but it’s engaging. 

Then there’s Cenn. Poor, innocent Cenn. I’m sorry but he’s completely unnecessary. Independently of the rest of the introduction to the Way of Kings Cenn’s chapter would be a pretty good prologue as he’s there to set up our main hero Kaladin from an outside perspective. We love Kaladin and Cenn’s chapter is fine for establishing him as a typical fantasy hero – he’s a warrior, cares about the people, and so forth.

However, Cenn’s chapter in the context bogs down the opening too much. It’s too long, not particularly relevant, and adds yet ANOTHER prologue to this already enormous book. Cenn’s chapter offers nothing to the reader that we don’t learn later on in the text when the content of Cenn’s chapter makes more sense. We even see the exact same sequence of events from Kaladin’s perspective in a flashback! Not having Cenn’s chapter would add more interest to Kaladin’s character and add more weight to the flashback sequence because we wouldn’t have met Kaladin at his peak (sort of…?) 

Kaladin’s flashbacks aren’t that engaging as it is, he’s a fairly standard fantasy hero from a small village who ends up leaving his happy family to go to war. So leaving a small mystery around him in addition to ‘how did he become a slave’ would help with my engagement. It would leave me wondering how reliable is Kaladin as a narrator, is he really as good with the spear as he claims? I wouldn’t know but Cenn’s chapter removes all the mystery apart from ‘how does Kaladin become a slave’. It needs to go to make Kaladin more interesting and cut down on some of the unnecessary page count.

While we’re at it… Just cut out ALL the interludes in this book, except for the Szeth through line. I KNOW they are here for the Cosmere connections and to foreshadow things much later in the series. However, new readers and Stormlight only readers don’t know this and, quite frankly, they SUCK. In later books the interludes make sense but here they add so much tedious, pointless crap to an already bloated book. They’re too much and add next to nothing – other than seeing Szeth lose it as he kills people, that was fun (in a disturbing, creepy way… Can you tell I like Szeth?) Either this stuff needs to be relevant to the book we’re in now, or painfully obvious that we’re coming back to this stuff in later books. I still don’t know why we got Ishikk’s interlude with the Worldhoppers, and I completely forgot Nan Balat had an interlude. I’ve read this book 5 times… THAT IS HOW POINTLESS THEY ARE! Sanderson should weave the necessary foreshadowing into the main text, intersperse the perspectives we do need for THIS story into the main sections, or cut them out. When I get to the interludes I physically sigh and sometimes put the book down - now I just skip everything but Szeth - but on a first read they’re really off putting. 

To finish up with my complaints about the structure, and this is a big one for me - why do we have huge chunks of this book without major viewpoint characters? I’m biased here but Dalinar is probably the most important POV character in the story because he introduces the real stakes of the story. He has the groundbreaking visions of the past, he is the viewpoint we get into the politics of the war, he is the character who does and continues to have the most impact on the development of the story on his own.Yet, we don’t meet him until we’re 190 pages in… 

Sanderson alternates Shallan and Dalinar’s chapters between the five different parts and that means they vanish for 400 pages at a time. Why? I ended up caring about them right as we’re about to lose their viewpoint again for the next part. We needed to see the three major POV characters interwoven together throughout the five parts, not randomly dropped and picked back up again. The structure of this book was a mistake. 

Okay, I promise I do actually like this book…

Worldbuilding

Something I do love is the worldbuilding of Roshar, and I usually don’t care that much about worldbuilding. I can really appreciate good worldbuilding, especially on the history side of things, but for most novels it’s just fine? If I roughly know what’s going on with the world then we’re good, I can just get on with the story and not worry about it. However, Roshar is genuinely beautifully built! It takes A LOT to get me to visualise a world as I’m not a visual reader. I can feel the atmosphere, get to know characters, but can I imagine a face or setting? No.

There are three fantasy worlds that have allowed me to actually see the world and it’s landscape: Middle Earth, Discworld, and Roshar. The bleak, storm weathered landscape of the Shattered Plains is so embedded in my mind it’s ridiculous, the only place I can picture more is the Shire – and Lord of the Rings has a film to help it!

Now, to be fair it’s hard for me to separate the worldbuilding in The Way of Kings from the rest of the series, so I now have 4,000 pages worth of worldbuilding in my head… However, it’s certainly strong and I distinctly remember having a vivid image of understanding this world, the atmosphere, landscape, and so forth, on my first read. Although it did take me until Oathbringer to realise that everything, except humanity, was basically a crab… (I think that was just me being dense.)

I do think Roshar needs much more of its history to be expanded on. We don’t have much between the Last Desolation (don’t ask me to spell it's in-world title!) and it shows at times. I don’t expect something on the level of The Silmarillion for Roshar, however, I do think we need to see something more substantial in the period between the Desolations and the present day. We know about the Recreance, the attempted takeover of the Vorin Church, and the Sunmaker? That’s 4000 years! To put it into context it’s the distance between us and Jesus’s birth TWICE, it’s like we know about the end of the 11th Dynasty of Egypt, the Reformation, and the British Empire in our own history... We need to find a balance, especially as we get so much development of science in the later books. More history please - but this is a personal issue and a series wide problem, not just The Way of Kings.

Magic System

Now, this is controversial for Sanderson, but I’m going to skip this for now. This review is already well over 1,000 words long and I’ve not even started on the meat of the novel yet. The magic system isn’t really fleshed out in The Way of Kings, we only really know stuff about the Windrunners (in an abstract kind of way) and the very basics of the Knights Radiant in general. So I’m going to discuss the magic when I get around to reviewing Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, and Rhythm of War, basically whenever I have the energy and more space.

Safe to say I actually really like the magic system in the Stormlight Archive. I usually dislike hard magic systems (I think I’m the only person who dislikes Mistborn’s Allomancy - while very well developed, it’s a bit silly and is far too much for my tastes...) as they often take some of the wonder, mystery, and excitement of fantasy out of the story for me. However, I think surgebinding is a fun system and there is a lot more of it for use to discover, preserving some of that mystery. Oh and, if you were wondering, I would be a Skybreaker!

Prose

Okay if you read the structure section and were wondering - why is this woman still reading these books, you’re in for another head scratcher. 

If you’ve ever talked to me about literature you’ll know that there are two things I look for in a really good book: characters and prose. Now characters are something Sanderson does phenomenally well in the Stormlight Archive, but that’s not something you can tell 100 pages into a 1,000 page tome. You have to sit with the characters for a long time and give the author some page time to familiarise you with the people you’re following. If you trust him, Sanderson pulls off some stunning character arcs, especially in the long term and I’ll talk more about characters later on (or you can just skip this section? Up to you really!).

However, prose is something you notice immediately, and Sanderson’s is…utilitarian at best. At worst it’s abysmal. These days I’m very picky about prose, a utilitarian style is fine but a book is unlikely to become a new favourite of mine without good writing. This doesn’t mean I want or expect the writing to be flowery or elaborate, but it does mean I want, and appreciate it when, the prose suits the tone of the narrative and world. I must acknowledge that I’m in a (vocal) minority here, a lot of people either don’t notice Sanderson’s style or like it - I certainly didn’t mind it when I first read ther series - so this is definitely a subjective opinion but one I’m certainly not alone in. 

Nevertheless, for me Sanderson’s prose is overly simplistic, repetitive, and very American. Okay so the American is probably only noticeable if you’re not American. However, I’m used to fantasy having a certain Britishness to the writing style, even when the author isn’t British, but to me (as a Brit and fantasy reader) the Americanisms are painful at times… There is no way in hell I’m ever going to acknowledge that aluminium is aluminum no matter how many times Sanderson uses it! 

Yet it goes beyond a spelling issue because, let's be honest, in this day and age American English is widely spoken and regularly used in fantasy literature - you can’t escape from it as much as I want to. It’s in the style of writing and construction of sentences. The entire narrative reads like an American has decided to tell me a story using their colloquial, everyday speech. It’s a deliberate choice on Sanderson’s part to make things accessible and digestible, and for some people this works. I do think he has a fantastic style to get readers in, especially readers who are getting to grips with high epic fantasy as it’s one less barrier to entry in an already difficult novel. But it does mean rereading isn’t always the best experience and sometimes the writing can jar me out of the story. 

In places it’s too simple and colloquial, so much so the writing becomes clunky, clumsy, and unrealistic to the world he’s creating, especially in descriptive passages and dialogue. It reads like Sanderson could have used more lyrical or formal writing but deliberately chose not to - at the detriment of the prose. This is particularly noticeable with characters like Jasnah Kholin. Jasnah is a princess, brilliant scholar, and political mastermind, she’s known for her poise, elegance, and intelligence. Yet she often speaks like an everyday 21st century American and other characters who haven’t had the same education or training as she has? I can’t believe this for a moment, her dialogue is so egregious in places that it’s like I’ve been hit over the head with my own book! I physically cringe when she says things like ‘“scoot over here”’ (chapter 70, p.1083). WHY is Jasnah talking like this?! It doesn’t make sense to me – Shallan maybe, but Jasnah? No. It doesn’t fit with what we’ve been told about her character.

(Just as an aside, I loathe the word ‘scoot’ – it should be burnt from the English language as an abomination!)

Part of the issue with this is Sanderson usually doesn’t distinguish between the character's voices, both in the dialogue and prose. Most of the time if you dropped me into a random section of the Stormlight Archive with no context I honestly couldn’t tell you who’s speaking or narrating without the signposts Sanderson gives us. This isn’t a huge issue as he’s writing in third person limited, and with context and the chapter icons we know who we’re following. However, it does mean we don’t have any idea of character voice – in the general prose, internal narration/thought, or speech. What’s the difference between Kaladin’s dialogue and Jasnah’s? I have no idea from the sentence construction or speech patterns. Certain descriptions of how characters speak help to differentiate (Jasnah is commanding, Shallan squeaks, Kaladin grunts, etc.) but from their speech patterns I wouldn’t have a clue.

All of this comes back to Sanderson’s overly simple and Americanised style. It’s his choice and it does work for many people, but personally it doesn’t always work with the characters or story. I’m not expecting him to write like Robin Hobb or Guy Gavriel Kay, but some finesse and awareness of character would be appreciated, especially if it helped to differentiate character voices.

I’m also going to throw this out as a very personal issue because I’m not sure where else to put it… Sanderson has the worst sense of humour I’ve ever had the misfortune to read. The comedic moments are occasionally amusing… However, Shallan’s puns are worse than my Dad’s jokes. Every time she says something apparently ‘witty’ and someone else remarks how clever and funny she is I want to hit them... At best she’s mildly amusing, at worst she’s cruel. It’s never funny. (This only gets worse with Lift, I almost DNFed the entire series because of the Lift interlude in Words of Radiance. And don’t get me started on Lopen.)

Characters

At last! Something I genuinely love and the reason I read these books! Sanderson has created some of the best characters in modern fantasy in this series and they are the only reason I’m still going. I like the worldbuilding and plot, but I adore the character work in this book and the series as a whole. The characters are generally so good that, even when I dislike them, it's because I dislike them personally, not that they’re badly written characters! Usually I love Sanderson’s characters though, even when they’re incredibly flawed (looking at you Dalinar!) because he’s particularly good at complex character arcs. 

Szeth – I love Szeth, slightly irrationally for how much he’s in both this book and the series as a whole, but he’s one of my favourite “secondary” characters in the series! Szeth is actually the character who made me fall in love with the series in the first place, which feels weird to say because he only has five or six chapters in the entire novel. However, a magical assassin with a strong, if morally dubious, sense of duty and obligations? Sign me up! The opening prologue from Szeth’s perspective is wonderful - it’s far too info-dumpy but it’s highly engaging and one hell of a way to open the series. 

What really intrigued me about Szeth was his role as the interlude throughline character for The Way of Kings. His internal conflict between his obligation to follow the Truthless’ laws and his personal morality is fascinating. Szeth’s character development has been one of the highlights of the entire series for me, especially as we explore his personal morality, questioning of power, and commitment to law and justice. This conflict is one of the reasons I love the Skybreakers in general and I sincerely hope we get to see more of this (and their conflict with the theoretically similar, although realistically very different, Windrunners) in book 5. However, Szeth is a promise that Sanderson hasn’t kept yet. So much has been built up around his character and we haven’t explored him properly (as of Rhythm of War) and I’m mad about it! He’s an incredibly interesting character, morally and thematically, and I hope Sanderson can live up to the hype he’s built up around him in the first four books of the series. 

Kaladin – Okay the real reason we’re all here, the shining beacon of the Stormlight Archive, everyone’s favourite heroic bridgeman: Kaladin Stormblessed. Confession time – I didn’t love Kaladin the first time I read The Way of Kings. Don’t get me wrong I liked him but I’m generally not a massive fan of underdog superhero narratives. (I’m still not a fan of Bridge Four in general for the same reason, I would apologise but I’m not sorry…)

Kaladin spends most of this novel running bridges for Highprince Sadeas on the Shattered Plains. Unjustly enslaved by a corrupt member of the aristocracy, Kaladin is fighting to keep himself and his bridgecrew alive during one of the most pointless “wars” I've read in a fantasy novel - the pointlessness isn’t actually a criticism. He’s facing systematic oppression and disregard for human life, as well as battling his own depression and forming a bond with a spren named Syl (I absolutely adore Syl! But I want to talk about her in my review for Words of Radiance.)

So… I’ve always been frustrated with Kaladin’s fundamental drive to save people and take responsibility for people’s deaths, even when there was nothing he could have done to save them. This book is probably the worst for it out of the four currently published and I just found it a bit much because I personally struggle to relate to his attitude. This level of personal responsibility is a completely alien concept to me, at least to this level, and it’s Kaladin’s entire thing - his driving personality trait - and I just didn’t get it. Kaladin and I are very different people and for a long time I really struggled to relate to him on the same level everyone else seems to in this book. It also didn’t help that the main plot around Kaladin running bridges, struggling with his depression, and trying to keep his men alive is very repetitive… So when you’re in the midst of it and struggling to connect quite so deeply with Kaladin this book can become a slog - yet, the pay off for his struggles is so satisfying and it is very much worth it for making the end feel earned. 

However, my issues with connecting to Kaladin is definitely on me and this is by no means to say Kaladin is a badly written character, I’ve always admired how well Kaladin is drawn in this book. Within a few chapters I understood who Kaladin is, and really loved the conflict he had with his depression and role as a fantasy hero. It's beautifully painful to watch and, even when you’re a bit ambivalent about Kaladin, you really care about whether he and Bridge Four are going to survive the bridgecrews – and the climax sequence with Kaladin becoming Stormblessed again at the Tower is still one of my favourite moments in the entire series!

However, on this reread of the series I had a completely different experience to what I’ve had on previous reads, and a lot of this is down to Rhythm of War. I don’t want to say too much here because it’ll involve spoilers for Rhythm of Warm but having seen Kaladin confront his, as Ron Weasley would say, “saving people thing” and really struggle to keep functioning as Stormblessed, I was so much more on board with this book. Rhythm of War’s much more personal approach to Kaladin really helped me understand him as a person, not just the underdog hero. The struggle with his sense of self, the way his depression impacts his ability to act, and the way he’s moving forward in Rhythm of War let me appreciate the character work for Kaladin in The Way of Kings. The struggle, graft, and determination, especially given his mindset, is much more admirable when I can strip away the focus on doggedly protecting everyone no matter the personal cost. 

Kaladin and I are very different people, but that’s okay and I’ve come to appreciate him a lot more in the last 7 months. Now I can happily adore him alongside everyone else, and not just nod along with the rest of the fandom because I understand he’s objectively a well written character. Also Kaladin’s mental health rep is some of the best I’ve seen in an epic fantasy series. However, I would approach this book, and series, carefully if you’re sensitive to depression.

Shallan – confession time round two: I hate Shallan. I really loathe her on a deeply personal level. And I’m still bitter about it because I used to love her, when I first read this book she was my favourite character! This was partly due to relating to her and partly due to my frustration with Kaladin. However, as I read Words of Radiance I grew uncomfortable with her and by Oathbringer it became a full on HATED of her…and it’s never gone away.

I first met Shallan when I was a shy 18-year-old, budding historian and scholar. I got Shallan, I loved her plotline, and found Khabranth a lot more interesting than the endless bridgeruns with Kaladin (sorry Kaladin!) I connected with her because she represented (projected) a lot of what I was at the time - and still am today, just an older version of that person. She was the main character that really drew me into the story - yes I loved Szeth and thought he was brilliant, but Szeth is largely absent from this novel and Shallan is the main female lead. 

And then I got hit in the face by the infamous Words of Radiance “Boots” chapter, and I immediately got iffy vibes, then there was the Chasm sequence, and so many other moments that made me uncomfortable. I’ll avoid spoilers and, for now, just say I got hit in the face by Shallan’s innate privilege, her causal abuse of social rank, and complete lack of social and self awareness. To top it off the narrative gives her no consequences for this and even rewards her for her behaviour, rather than making Shallan work through the issues around classism (something I, as a Brit, am hyper aware of and it SHOULD NOT under ANY circumstances be ignored, especially with Kaladin’s narrative running parallel to Shallan.) However, this is later book issues and a major dropped theme that I’m fuming about, but I still found I liked Shallan in THIS book when I reread the series.

Not this time. 

There are moments in The Way of Kings where we can already see Shallan’s privilege and complete disregard of anyone who is remotely lower than her in the Vorin hierarchy. The scene with the book merchant stands out. No one in that scene is innocent, and I’m much less annoyed by it than I am at the “Boots” scene, however, it shows an early form of Shallan’s complete inability to reflect on her own behaviour towards those with less power than herself. She’s casually abusive and manipulative, but no one really calls her out on it. The few moments when someone does confront Shallan about it, and the narrative consistently forgives her because Sanderson allows her to come across as the victor in each of the arguments. This isn’t to say Shallan’s causal abuse of the Vorin social system shouldn’t be present in the book. It’s actually very realistic, in our world white people (especially white women) have behaved like Shallan for centuries. However, what does matter is the narrative framing. However, I’ll dig into this when I get to reviewing Words of Radiance because a lot of my planned review for that book is centred around this issue.

I’m also resentful that Shallan’s character in The Way of Kings is a complete lie – we don’t know her at all, but not in the same way as Dalinar? We KNOW something is off with Dalinar, we KNOW he was a terrible person and a warmonger from the way people talk about the Blackthorn – but Shallan’s reveal largely comes out of nowhere in some respects and I HATE that the person I loved so much 5 years ago was a complete lie. I’m a bitter person and I will continue to hold a grudge until Shallan dies or the series ends, whichever comes first.

Jasnah – my problematic QUEEN. Is Jasnah a shitty person? Yes. Do I love her anyway? Yes. Difference is I knew Jasnah was shitty from the start… I like problematic characters, I just hate being lied to (*cue insincere smile at Shallan*)

Jasnah is a difficult character to talk about in this book because we don’t know much about her other than her public persona, however, she’s a large part of why I love it so much. I just like brilliant women who would kill me, okay? It also helps that she's an historian, I have a soft spot for murderous historians. I’ll talk more about Jasnah when I review Oathbriner, hopefully that won’t be in another 5 years…! I just wanted to highlight that I do love a female character in this book!

Actually on the topic, Sanderson is still a shitty author for female friendships – he has included more female characters in Stormlight but why are there no female friendships that aren’t rooted in backstabbing and lies?!

Dalinar – if Jasnah is my problematic Queen then Dalinar has to be the problematic King. Dalinar is my favourite Stormlight Archive character. I could wax lyrical about what a BRILLIANT character he is. You may not like Dalinar, you may not forgive him, but you have to admit he is the best written character in ANYTHING Sanderson has written, and one of the best in modern fantasy. Nevertheless, much like Jasnah I’m going to wait until I review Oathbringer before I talk about Dalinar because I can’t do him justice without his flashbacks. However, I will tell you a story about the time I first met Dalinar Kholin.

So, I first read The Way of Kings on my commute back and forth to Worcester Cathedral because I had a work placement in the Cathedral’s archives. I’d been doing this commute for months and reached the point where I knew when to get off the train by feeling, no need to check the stations (this is relevant).

 I was on my commute home, and as I was walking to the train station I started part two. I met Adolin and he was fine. I was a bit confused because this was a whole new perspective and set of characters, but I was doing okay. (Yes I was walking and reading, no I do not recommend this arrangement for health reasons.)

And then I met Dalinar. As I got on the train we got into his own head, with the mystery of the visions just starting, the hints towards his complicated relationship with Elhokar, and the amazing fight with the Chasmfiend. Bearing in mind I was automatically doing my commute through this – I’d become so invested in Dalinar, I missed my transfer on the train. I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. I’m paranoid about it! But I was so engrossed in this aged general, who was potentially going mad, that I missed the stop on my train and didn’t even notice until we hit Birmingham New Street.

I was so in love with Dalinar Kholin that I travelled to the wrong city… And my love for him has only gotten stronger*.

Conclusion

Overall I have a complicated relationship with The Way of Kings, and The Stormlight Archive in general. I love this series, I particularly adore the characters and character work Sanderson is doing as the books continue. However, it is severely overhyped. There are a lot of flaws in this book, especially with the writing and structural aspect of this novel. It’s poorly paced, clumsily written, and lacking finesse. For me Sanderson is an okay writer but a wonderful storyteller. As a storyteller he’s made a huge contribution to the fantasy genre and I’m here for the major improvement he’s made in popularising more complex character work and the inclusion of mental health representation. We’re just seeing the start of this shift in the fantasy genre and I’m excited to see where Stormlight and fantasy are going to go with this movement. 

However, as a writer he has a long way to go in improving his craft of writing. These are big books, and I will often forgive mistakes with narrative structure in books of this size because they are so huge. However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t acknowledge them when reviewing the novel. Mistakes were made, especially in The Way of Kings, and are still being made but Sanderson has been slowly improving with the later books.

There’s a lot to love in The Stormlight Archive - the worldbuilding is insane, the characters are incredible, and the plots are gripping. I love them, and I will continue to eagerly await the next installments! But they’re far from perfect, and that’s okay. Sanderson has captured the imaginations of thousands of fantasy readers and I would highly recommend you give these books a go, despite my critical review. This is a fabulous time to be a fantasy reader and The Stormlight Archive is one of the most exciting reasons to be reading the genre!

*Dalinar and I are going to be on thin ice if Sanderson continues with his character as he did in Rhythm of War, but again I’ll address that when I review Rhythm of War.

#the way of kings #the stormlight archive #brandon sanderson #cosmere #book review #kaladin stormblessed #dalinar kholin #jasnah kholin #szeth son son vallano #not tagging a certain character because last time I had really nasty comments #i promise i really do love this book #i'm just critical of everything I read these days #especially when I've read it five times

[im-a-ramblr]

Day 20, Enigmatic

Jakamav sighed as he was ushered through the Oathgate. These last few months had not been kind to him. First Dalinar went crazy and he’d needed to cut ties with Adolin, then that embarrassing duel that lost him his shards, and any chance of Adolin wanting to be friends with him again. And to make matters worse, it had been for nothing. Dalinar wasn’t mad, the storming Voidbringers had returned and Jakamav was useless when it came to fighting them.  

He trudged out and looked up at the tall tower city. A tall figure with a blue coat, hovering outside a window caught his attention and his jaw tightened. Kaladin Stormblessed had returned from wherever he’d gone, which was for reason, one of the top discussions of gossip for the tower. Honestly, how was he on the same level as Princess Jasnsah, who had been thought dead, showing up and a murderous unmade being chased from the tower? It didn’t make any sense.

That made Jakamav pause. Hadn’t Adolin been put in charge of the investigation of the murders? Yes, he had, but the one who murdered Sadeas couldn’t be the Unmade because it was the first attack. So, he’d still be looking. Perhaps he could offer to help? Adolin would need someone to bounce ideas off of, and they were great at that. Nodding to himself he straightened and pushed his hair back. “You there! Do you know where Prince Adolin is?” He called to darkeyed runner woman.

After being given general directions to Adolin’s room, he set off. Every so often he would stop and ask if someone where Adolin was just in case he wasn’t in his rooms. He ended up being directed to a different room than what he’d originally been told, but that was fine.

The room had no door so he could hear Adolin’s voice drifting out of it. “- scared it off, which is good. I’m sure your men will tell you all about it if they haven’t already, but that’s the short of it.”

Jakamav knocked on the doorframe and stuck his head in. Adolin was halfway to sitting on the ground, seemingly after having explained his encounter with the unmade. He looked at Jakamav in shock. Across the room, arms crossed over his chest, leaned Captain Kaladin. His eyes, a strange color in-between blue and brown narrowed at him. Great.

“Jakamav, what are you doing here?” Adolin asked, standing.

“I came to speak with you. I wanted to talk to you about these past few months.” Pale green eyes darted to the scowling Radiant.

“I know you from somewhere.” The Windrunner mused, cutting off Adolin who had opened his mouth.

That made the prince snort. “Oh my gosh, are you serious? Kaladin this is-”

“Don’t tell me.” Kaladin snipped. “I know who he is." he studied the other man. After a moment he declared "Green armor. From the duel.”

Jakamav flushed, while Adolin rolled his eyes. “And his name, bridgeboy?”

“Unimportant, but it’s Jakam-or”

Adolin buried his face in his hands. "I literally just said it and you can't get it right?"

Kaladin, whose eyes had finally settled back to their normal dark brown, smirked.

Adolin pulled his head, catching sight of the look on Kaladin’s face. “Wh- oh. Kal, that’s horrible, and you know it.” The toned hair man shook his head and moved toward the guard. Jakamav felt a little annoyed at being ignored, but he didn’t comment. He wasn’t sure what he’d say. Adolin rested a hand on Kaladin’s shoulder, peering into his eyes. “Awful Bridgeboy.”

“Vain princeling.” Kaladin replied though it seemed to lack the heat his voice had held earlier.

Adolin pulled away and turned to his former friend. “Anyway, what did you need to talk to me about?”

“Ah, the investigation you're doing,” Jakamav answered, coming fully into the room. He glanced at Kaladin, before focusing on Adolin. “I was wondering if I could help. You and I use to bounce ideas off each other for hours, and I figured you could use someone to work through it with you.”

“Oh?” Adolin asked, voice wary. “Well, I appreciate the offer,” Kaladin snorted, causing Adolin to reach a hand behind him and flicked the man. “but I’m afraid it isn’t much help. No one is willing to admit they did it.” His voice tightened, “And now the unmade is gone there are no leads so, I’m afraid I don’t have much to think about.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Kaladin told him pushing off the wall and walking back the pair. “I’m off, but you know where to find me if you need me.” He paused at the door. “And don’t hesitate to tell me if he tries anything.”

“What?” Jakamav frowned, confused.

“Not you.” He walked out. “And don’t forget your supposed to be at the meeting later.” He turned, eyes locking on Jakamav, even though his words were directed at Adolin. “If your late, I will find you and drag you there myself.”

“I’ll be there Bridgeboy. Don’t worry.” Adolin huffed.

Kaladin walked out without another word, and Jakamav sputtered. “Was that a threat? Honestly Adolin how can you stand him.”

“He’s not so bad,” Adolin said, frowning at his former friend. “And yes, I think it was. He doesn’t have many reasons to trust you, does he?”

“The duel was a mistake!” The dark-haired youth protested. “Besides, even if he doesn’t like me, he shouldn’t treat you so, Radiant or not.”

Adolin looked at him and shook his head. A very small smile graced his lips, but Javamav thought it looked off. “He’s not doing it because he’s flaunting his new position. It’s just what we do.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Surely your father cares enough to let you work with someone else. I mean this isn’t like the thing with the codes.”

Adolin sighed, and the smile faded, though it changed little of his bearing. “He’s my friend. And I know it doesn’t make sense to you how that works, and I’m sorry for that. I really hope you can understand what’s it’s like someday.” He walked to the door, leaving his former friend standing there, completely lost.

“Will you at least try to explain it?” Jakamav snapped, and Adolin paused.

“I could try, but it’s hard to explain. There’s something wonderful about having a friend who’s friends with you for you. About having someone there for who you are, not what you are. It’s personal.” Adolin turned back and saw he was still confused. “I really hope you get to figure it out at some point.” He turned and left.

Jakamav frowned after him, mouthing the words “who you are, not what you are.” He shook his head. Storming Kholins. The whole family was slowly losing its ability to make sense.

#flufftober2020 #stormlight archive #adolin kholin #kaladin stormblessed #jakamav #Relila Writes

[anemonereadssometimes]

Top 15 characters from books I’ve read in 2020

Yes I know it’s only been six months. I’ve read 27 books, which is way more than last year, love me some having graduated college and actually have free time. This list was Not Easy, the order changes by the day, and this year was a lot of rereads but I saw this idea and I thought it looked fun so here I am. Without further ado:

1. Kaladin (The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson)

I love my too honorable, depressed, protective boy. He tries so hard all the time, and he attaches and loves everyone. He tries to give everything and more of himself to save and it might not be healthy but I relate so hard lmao. I just love him so much. He’s grumpy as hell and takes too much responsibility but goddamit he cares.

2. Jesper Fahey (Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo)

I just.... I love Jesper. His charisma shines through the pages. Jesper is the type of person I want to be, full of life, and sharing that with other people.

3. Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows)

Strongest person ever, I want to be her or I want to marry her, I’m not sure which. Every word she says is thought through, and she is deliberate, and reflective, and physically, emotionally, and mentally strong.

4. Fire (Fire by Kristin Cashore)

My favorite character from a book I’ve loved for ten years. I reread this book probably once a year, and my love for Fire only grows. She’s immensely reflective, strong, and soft at the same time. She gets to be both. I also love the strong woman who is kind and compassionate and loves children, because loving and treating children well and being strong/ having power are not mutually exclusive. She’s just wonderful, and I never get sick of watching her grow confident in herself and grow outside of her shadows, becoming something reforged. Also she’s beautiful.

5. Wylan Van Eck (Six of Crows)

Hhhhhhh okay I am wylan. I know this. I know that’s why I like him. He’s the parts of me I like lmao. He’s smart, confident when in the right situation, and just honestly the sweetest. When it comes to it, he’s brave, but he feels like everyone around him is leagues above him. Also he loves Jesper which like, yeah dude I feel that.

6. Sophie Hatter (Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones)

Sophie is mean as hell and I appreciate that honestly. She’s no nonsense and clever and wonderful. Hella strong character, I love every conversation she has with people. She also has the tendency to fall into repetitive thought patterns which is a mood.

7. Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch (Carry On by Rainbow Rowell)

Ah Baz. Loved this boy for years. We’ve run across another book I reread a lot. Baz is dramatic as hell, has a mean streak, but fiercely protects those in his circle. I am not him, and I sure as hell wouldn’t agree with him on everything, but I respect him as a mage and as a person. Also he makes me cry.

8. Sylphrena (The Stormlight Archive)

God I love Syl. I can’t believe she’s this low on the list tbh but she’s the cheerful counterpart to Kaladin. She’s an honorspren, so not a person exactly, but more of an idea, which is hella cool I wish I was an idea. She’s badass and she cares so much about Kaladin, and about doing what’s right by people. She’s kind and I got to watch her grow her consciousness and intelligence. One minute she is having a philosophical discussion with Kal and the next she’s pretending to be a rock, or sticking people’s shoelaces together. That’s a duality I can relate to and respect.

9. M-bot (Skyward & Starsight by Brandon Sanderson)

M-bot is not a person either, he’s an AI and I love him. M-bot made me cry my eyes out, actually I think every character on this list so far has made me cry except Sophie, and that’s because Howl’s Moving Castle is kind of a light book and I love that. Anyway M-bot is a sarcastic little thing and I love him. His lines are the funniest, but he also cares a lot, and is also runs a spaceship so like that’s awesome.

10. Spensa (Skyward & Starsight)

Spensa is probably my favorite character that I spend the whole book yelling at. Jk, not the whole book, but she does frustrate me. She’s so impulsive, but man she tries so hard and feels so much and I’m a sucker for characters that care. She’s a good egg, go read Skyward.

11. Eric R Bittle (Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu)

Another character that’s made me cry! This one multiple times! I grew up alongside Bitty in a way, going through college at the same time he did, and weirdly coming out around the time he did as well. Feels like he’s been there with me, and I got to watch him mature and beat his own demons. I’m so proud of him and I squeal every time I see him. He’s such a stinking sweetheart.

12. Simon Snow (Carry On)

Ah yes, another idiot whom I love. But he cares so much!!! He loves with his whole self, he doesn’t do anything by halves. He throws himself headlong into everything, and he may be reckless and stupid sometimes but I love him.

13. Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle)

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and I honestly think that cemented my love of Howl. The Howl voice the voice actor does is marvelous, and many of his lines had me cackling in public. He’s brash and grumpy and selfish but I love him anyway. Helps that he’s funny as hell.

14. Nina (Six of Crows)

Ninaaaaaaaaaa another character to get mad at, since she has a tendency to do stupid things, but she always does them for the right reasons. She’s badass, and she gives love to her friends freely. She also doesn’t know how to shut up and I love that. Also have a mentioned she’s badass? And beautiful???

15. Calcifer (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Fuckin’ hilarious. 10/10 jokes, the voice actor’s voice was also very good for calcifer. He loves to pretend he doesn’t car but he does. Also in the second and third books he’s hella badass which is cool.

Honorable mentions in no order:

Kimmalyn (Skyward)-sweetest bby, I love her

Shallan (The Stormlight Archive)- haven’t liked her every step of the way but she’s such and interesting character holy crap

Dalinar (The Stormlight Archive)- army general, has killed lots of ppl :/ but he’s so invested in change and doing good, and he pushes himself so hard. Love the way Brandon Sanderson writes everyone morally gray. Good stuff.

Penny (Carry On)- brash as hell, damn smart, will kick your ass, does not have time for you, kinda unlikeable, wait I’m describing book hermoine wait could it be that I loved hermoine in my formative years and now I love the carry on version of her? Mmm not surprising.

#the stormlight archive #carry on #six of crows #the graceling trilogy #howls moving castle #skyward #check please #my post #kaladin stormblessed #jesper fahey #inej ghafa #lady fire #wylan van eck #sophie hatter #baz #simon snow #calcifer

[peachdoxie]

Incomplete list of Stormlight Archive memes:

"Szeth-son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to kill a king." *unrelated outfit totally in white*

Every bird is a chicken.

Everything is crabs.

"Fuck Moash."

Loving and appreciating Kaladin Stormblessed

"I am a stick." "But you could be fire."

#feel free to add ones i missed #stormlight archive #cosmere

[lamaery]

Every day is a Kaladin appreciation day.

#kaladin fanart #Kaladin #stormlight archive #windrunner #character art #scribbles #Way of Kings #Words of Radiance #Oathbringer #Rhythm of War #rhythm of war spoilers #knight radiant #cfsbf #Kaladin appreciation post

[pedantichoe]

Rhythm of War spoilers under the cut

...

Perfect I’m glad that actually worked :)

1. WHAT THE NUTS?!2?:??:?:? I’VE LOST MY GOSHDANG MARBLES NOT TO MENTION SEVERAL PIECES OF MY SOUL AND ALL MY SANITY (clearly since I already said marbles r gone) HEAD IS EMPTY FELLAS

I’m honesty just still at a loss for words. The implications every major investiture-related reveal has are enormous. The light. The harmonies. The spren experiments??? Ishar what the eff word are you doing dude!??!???

I was under the delusion that there was going to be a mega battle between Moash and Kaladin at the end of the book that was gonna be Uber painful but then have that allow Kaladin to swear the fourth ideal (in my head it was smth like Dalinar v Odium in Oathbringer but I am aware that would be way too clean a parallel and branderson just doesn’t work like that). INSTEAD we got an altercation that caused me to BAWL MY EYES OUT FOR FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES

Some lead-up. Somewhere around the time Moash got the spren-killing dagger I could just feel an awful build-up of tension and anxiety. I may not be able to hear the rhythms of Roshar but let me tell you if I could..... I would be attuned to terrors m8. So anyways I knew shit was gonna go DOWN but I didn’t know exactly what. Then Moash got the knife and my brain was just like “if he kills Sylphrena....” but I was just like HHHHH GOTTA KEEP READING

I’ll need to go downstairs and actually grab my book at some point to make sure I have the timeline right but there was a point where I had to set the book down and do some breathing exercises and walk around a little. And then Oho boy. When Teft walked in and saw Moash I just... I lost it a little. And then what actually happened????? My dogs woke me up at 5 AM and as I’m struggling out of some weird cosmere-related dream I remember whag Moash did and I’m just sitting there in the dark dogs whining to go out -crying- because how could he do that how could he how could he

And I know at the start of the book when Godeke or whatever edgedancer came to get Kal out of the manor fire was standing in the doorway and Moash had some kind of.... bit of his soul? Smth??? Show a version of who he /could/ be (wait that wasn’t Renarin was it cuz that would make sense...... hmmmmmmmm). That COULD mean he will have some opportunity at redemption which. If there is ANYBODY I trust to do it well and with feeling, it’s Brandon, but also a huge part of me does NOT. WANT. HIM. REDEEMED. I want him crushed and broken in every way with the full weight of what he did bearing down upon him but also hhhhhhh I’m sure we will get smth much cooler than anything I could think up ANYWAY

Why are the splits between paragraphs getting so big tumblr what is wrong with you

See this one is normal

Okay ANYWAYS

Kaladin. Bitch this man is a LOT. he’s just. I think the thing I appreciate most about these books is that the heroes aren’t perfect. They’re often damaged. Feel broken. And IN that they expand upon their ideals and ultimately make the first one just such an inspiring message. Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.

So Kaladin. He is just uhhhh amazing??? What I think truly encapsulates what I love about him is when it’s just he and Syl and the stonecast statue of Teft. The sadness is still there and I know it hurts him so much. But the guilt? The ability to grow in your losses and find yourself stronger and more human and more understanding because of it??? Ultimately THAT is where Moash and Odium are wrong. Kaladin and Dalinar have found and CONTINUE to find how to grow in their pain. How to not just deal with, but ACCEPT and OWN their pain and sorrow. They are finding the peace that Odium would have brought through numbness and loss. I don’t really know how to phrase this exactly how I would like. But I’m proud of this message. Im glad for this message.

When Wit helps Kaladin into that warm bubble and tells him he will be warm again, that just hit. The message in these books is about oaths and ideals and promises. It’s about growing into something so much more than you ever could have dreamed, and NOT by giving up your pain or your guilt or your loss or your anger to someone who would leave you a shell as a byproduct. When Teft died he died full of hope. He knew he was forgiven. He didn’t lose to Moash, to Odium, to the moss or to anyone or anything else. He lived and died with Honor. And in doing so proved that the power to change existed within him. It just needed support. Like a small flame. You can’t leave it open to the winds, or it will extinguish, but it DOES need air. It does need to be stoked to grow. Teft did it. So can you.

I went on both Instagram and Snapchat to try and talk about how deeply connected I feel to these books and the messages and characters in them. I wasn’t nearly as eloquent as I would have liked. But at the end of the day I am so grateful for how I’ve been able to grow and change and be shaped by my trials and experiences. I didn’t spend this year in as dark of a place as Kaladin, but I did feel trapped and stuck. I felt like a failure. I felt weak and angry and like there was no way to get to where I had been. Like I couldn’t remember the words.

And not just this book, but so many things in my life have helped me to see that I am valid and I am growing and I will stumble and make mistakes but through it all, the oaths that I have made, and the ideals that I keep are what make me me, and will continue to temper my soul and my spirit as I go along this journey.

I don’t need everyone to love these books as much as I do. Or feel as strongly about the messages or be as affected by the characters, the plot, and the INSANELY good writing. But I hope everyone has, finds, and clings to what makes them warm. What brings them light. We all make mistakes. We all will continue to mess up. We need to be corrected and shaped and we need to grow and change. But I for one am sick of hating people on principle. I’m sick of the feeling in my stomach like the world is falling to shit and that nothing I do or say will ultimately have any positive effect. I’m sick of living in a shade-darker world where I hate everything and feel like I should hate everything. I’m sick of being angry.

As a related side note. As we get to know more about the shards I hope someone makes a “which shard of Adonalsium are you!” Quiz because that would be very interesting. As is?? This year I have been Odium. I am passionate. But I am angry. I am so so angry. And I don’t -want- to be so angry anymore. I want to have hope. I want to follow light. I want to CHOOSE life and strength and journey and I want to sacrifice what I need to to get there. Kaladin’s fourth ideal is recognizing he can’t save everyone. I want to follow the ideal that those out there deserving of love and compassion outweigh my need to feel angry and unjust at those that destroy those things. I’ll work on phrasing as I go. I’m not quite ready to swear it, but the words are coming. I can feel them.

What Maya did was reveal that in the darkest of times for Radiants and their bonds, there was a choice that was made. And -no one,- spren, god, or otherwise, can take away the fact that it was THEIR choice. It is my choice whom I serve. It is my choice what I sacrifice and what I hold on to. And I will not let the voices of those telling me I have to hate everything and everyone take charge over me.

I hope everyone out there finds their ideals. And keeps to them. And knows that there is hope and light and life. That there is strength before weakness. And courage before cowardice. And a journey before their destination.

And that ultimately, the most important words a person can say are: “I will do better.” And the most important step they can take is the next one.

Life before death. Always. Life before death.

#the pedant rambles on and on about ideals for 95 years and no one is surprised #pedantics #rhythm of war #rhythm of war spoilers #the stormlight archive #stormlight archive #stormlight archive spoilers #stormlight spoilers #row spoilers #cosmere #cosmere spoilers #cfsbf #fuck moash #life before death

[myshipsareendgame]

maybe it’s just due to my OCs i created in my head and wrote, but i really do want to see the back five of the stormlight archive to include our main characters’ children.

the first child is evi kholin II, shallan and adolin’s daughter. she’s rebellious, mature for her age, beautiful (like her parents, duh) and smart as hell. she’s sassy and almost not afraid of anything. almost- because she’s afraid of anything happening to her family or those she cares about. that’s why she’s always pulling a kaladin and tries to take care of everyone, even if it means putting others’ needs before her own. but through it all she’s kind and bright. she brings in laughter into the room and she’s truly is a mix of both her parents.

second comes tenadal, evi’s younger brother. he’s only two years younger, but they aren’t that close. however, they still appreciate each other and if anything happened to one of them, they’d literally go out of their mind. tenadal is a mini adolin, energetic, good hearted and awkward, but still successful with girls. he plans to one day be a great duelist, just like his father

next comes nili, kaladin’s adopted child. nili is a year younger than tenadal, three years younger than evi. however that doesn’t stop those two from being best friends. sometimes evi is more like her older sister, but a sister nevertheless. where evi is confident, nili is shy. where nili is anxious, evi is sure of herself. but they both want to study, they both love talking about boys and books and gossip and shopping. they’re urithiru’s duo. adolin and kaladin’s daughters that make mischief (95% of the time as evi’s idea), but everyone still adores. they do all kinds of stuff together: study groups, shopping days and even sleepovers, so much so that the kholins keep and extra pair of pijamas in the kids’ closet for her. tenadal and she don’t meet for a while, even after a long time of being evi’s friend, but once they do, tenadal doesn’t think he ever saw such a pretty girl. and they grow up together, liking each other in secret.

then kala, she is the youngest girl, evi’s five years yonger sister. kala was named after kaladin and is the youngest child for a while. still, her siblings (including the girl they treat as their own) accept her into their company. where tenadal looks like a mini adolin and evi as a little shallan, kala is a true mix. although all shadolin kids have a very distinctive hair, a mix no one’s seen before, kala’s faciak features truly are a combination.

then, the babiest baby to ever appear and bless their worlds comes. the softest softie ever to soft. little nalan, the youngest kid. everyone wants to pinch his little chubby cheeks, to give him a hug, hold his little figure in their arms. he’s a mama’s boy. all the kids like to paint and do it with their mother as a free-day activity. but nalan showes so much TALENT at such a young age

of course, there are gavinor and danid. gavinor is the eldest kholin kid (in my story he was only three years older than evi) who we all know and love. danid is his best friend. like evi and nili, they met each other when they were little but became insepersble friends very quickly. evi and danid didn’t exactly hit it off, as danid pulled her hair when they were at practice. since then, they decided they hated each other, spatting insults at each other and denying all and every alligation that they have feelings for each other.

so yeah, yep. i guess that’s about it

#shadolin #adolin kholin #shallan davar #shallan kholin #kaladin stormblessed #nili stormblessed #evi kholin #gavinor kholin #original character #original characters #and ofc a kid in the back five! #shadolin kids #kid fic #original child character #original female character #original male character #the stormlight archive #stormlight archive #rhythmofwarspoilers #rhythm of war spoilers #row spoilers #rhytm of war #rhythmofwar #row #stormlight 4

[lev-iathan]

RoW Thoughts

I was planning on doing one of these for every part, but then I kind of... got carried away and finished the book. So, here are my thoughts on the whole thing.

(spoilers for the entire Cosmere, just in case)

- Kaladin was wonderful all the way through. I was so worried all the time that he would die. Like, genuinely worried. Especially during the fight with Lezian (that was staged a bit too similarly to the Kelsier vs. Inquisitors fight in Mistborn and we all know how that ended) and when he jumped off the tower (I knew Brando wouldn’t let him die by suicide, but let’s just say I still hummed to the Terrors). And then he does it. He swears the Fourth Ideal and it goes better than anything I could’ve imagined. Now he’s committed to healing and has reconciled with his father and everything. I just love him so much. Though, I am concerned. At the end there, he did glow with some weird yellow light and Syl forgot the words. That doesn’t bode well.

- Teft’s death. Brando destroyed me with that one sentence, and while I don’t really want to talk about it, I have to acknowledge it. Also, Fuck Moash. I didn’t really care that he killed Elhokar, but after what he did to Kaladin and this, it’s gotten personal. I’m not opposed to a redemption arc for him, but right now, I’m not very sympathetic towards him.

- Dabbid was so good! I really like when minor characters get their chance to stand out and he was wonderful! I hope he bonds a spren, he deserves it.

- Rlain becomes a Truthwatcher! I did not see that coming. I thought Bondsmith or Willshaper but not Truthwatcher. He can see the future now, potentially creating another blind spot for Odium. And Sja-anat is creating more corrupted Truthwatchers that will have that ability, which I think will be a massive advantage in the coming battle.

- I was disappointed we got so little of Renarin and Jasnah. Renarin barely had a chapter and Jasnah had two but it wasn’t enough. To be honest, Jasnah and Hoid’s relationship annoyed me but oh well. Not worth complaining about.

- Dalinar has little pagetime too, but it was enough. I’d been waiting for them to confront Ishar since he was first mentioned in OB and boy oh boy did they confront him. Ishar is fucking terrifying. He stole Dalinar’s bond with the Stormfather, he can leech Stormlight out of Radiants, he’s experimenting on spren (that was truly and utterly fucked up). What was that all about??? I also loved that it was Dalinar that accepted Kaladin’s oath, not the Stormfather. Him speaking with that godly lowercase caps seems like a bit of foreshadowing...

- I’m so happy for Shallan. Finally coming to terms with everything and realizing that she’s strong enough to work though the pain. I loved Veil’s “death” scene. I was soooo relieved when it turned out that Pattern wasn’t a traitor and the moment we saw the Cryptic in the marketplace I suspected that Shallan could’ve had a different spren that she killed. Also, worldhoppper Shallan confirmed? Hell yeah! She already has a Seon and I can’t wait for her to get her hands on some Breaths because I think she would enjoy those immensely. But first to find a way to get off-world with Pattern.

- Adolin and Maya were phenomenal. I’m really glad he didn’t become a Radiant because we really have a bit of an oversaturation of those among the main characters, but I love that she awakened for him. When she finally reveals the secret of the Recreance... Chills.

- I liked Navani well enough though I have to admit that I was a bit bummed when she bonded the Sibling because of the aforementioned oversaturation of Radiants, but I guess it was foreshadowed. She’s still got a lot of work to do though, with the fabrials and all. I loved her interactions with Raboniel, them discovering the Rhythm of War and all the different lights. Them just sciencing together and coming to understand each other was just great.

- I appreciate that we got at least a glimpse of Szeth and Nightblood. Next book it going to be great, I can feel it.

- Could have used a bit more Lift. I’m happy that she’s doing well after Moash happened, but I’m still confused about the red chicken...

- And finally, the star of the show, Venli. She was actually much better than I expected. I was afraid she would be pushed to the side since she didn’t have many chapters in part 1 and 2, but she played a really great role. Her flashbacks didn’t hit me as hard as the ones in the other books, maybe because they were split and I was never really interested in Eshonai (though that last flashback hurt a lot), but her present-day plotline was great. I like how it wasn’t easy for her to swear the Ideals and she wasn’t forgiven. She didn’t even forgive herself, but she’s on the path and that’s all that matters. It felt fitting that she only managed to swear the First Ideal at the very end. I like Venli quite a lot. I hope she doesn’t get pushed to the side now that she’s rejoined the listeners. One question though? Does Cultivation accept her oaths? Because she hears a female voice instead of the Stormfather.

- Taravangian. Oh Taravangian. You can’t convince me that anyone predicted he would kill Rayse and Ascend to Odium. That was so out of the blue but it worked so goddamn well I actually screamed. That’s a gamechanger. Taravangian is waaaaaay scarier than Rayse could ever be because he’s smart and he’s a planner and those are always dangerous. And what was it he did at the end, mind wiping Hoid??? Seems like this was all part of Cultivations plan and now they’re in cahoots and I am Afraid.

- This was probably my favorite Sanderlanche??? Maybe, I’ll need to do a reread to say for sure, but just the way everything came together to a massive crescendo was phenomenal. Kaladin fighting Lezian. Navani and Raboniel. The boundaries breaking between singers and humans and the fight now becoming a battle between ideals not a battle between races. The Fused defying Odium. The Tower lighting up at the end. I teared up when Venli finally told Leshwi she is a Radiant and Leshwi asked after her old honorspren. I have to wonder if all Fused used to be Radiants back when the spren bonded singers, and Odium just transformed them into brands analogous to their Orders. Anyway, it was great.

- Thaidakar is actually Kelsier. Confirmed, on page. I yelled ‘I KNEW IT’ so loud my cat ran away from me. That bastard. He did it. He became the ultimate cult leader.

- Who the fuck is El? That’s all I’m going to say because I really have no clue.

- I don’t think it’s possible for the entirety of book 5 be set within 10 days. There’s too much stuff to be done. I think the duel will happen about halfway through the book and then we’ll be dealing with some of the fallout, but it’s waaaaay to early to speculate about that.

#rhythm of war spoilers #row spoilers

[inktail]

Re: fanfiction questions post. Got any answers for 3, 14, 28, 39, and/or 50?

Boy do I

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

I’d love ot say Homestuck, but as special and formative as it was for me, Homestuck won’t be winning any ��Best Fandom” awards, like, ever.  The communities I’ve joined for FFXV though are some of the chillest, funniest, and easygoing folk I’ve ever encountered in fandom.

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Steve&Bucky forever. Steve&Bucky& the Commandos, especially. I miss them daily.  Noctis & the chocobros, all day every day. Kaladan & Shallan, from Stormlight. They bonded over puns and could get up to so much mischief together if Kaladin weren't so high strung. 

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Ohh I do have some frog-status crack in the works that I toadally want to commission art for if/when it’s done. 

Otherwise, when I get back to it, I hope “Nocits Accidentally becomes Captain of The Kingsglaive” gets enough attention to spark some fanart. I would cry, die, and then resurrect myself and forgo sleep and water to speed write the rest of the fic to show that artist the depths of my appreciation ;0; I’d hope for some Noctis&Nyx interactions, because they will be very good friends. 

But, if it must be a published work, the Zaerith drabbles I did have some real cute moments in them that I would also die to see drawn. Wishing on flowers, or maybe conspiring in the garden. 

39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

I’m not self-aware enough of my abilities to answer this x3′’. I can say that I love to sneak in headcanons and worldbuilding, and being able to work characters into using their settings.

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I started reading fanfic because my BFF would send me Harry Potter crack fic she’d found on Deviantart to read. I quickly learned that I hated reading long swaths of text on computer screens, and that I didn't care at all about Harry Potter. We soon co-wrote our own Kingdom Hearts crack fic (by passing a spiralbound notebook back and forth at church activities,) which I do believe is still out there in the depths of deviantart, where I hope it remains buried for all of time. 

Timeline gets blurry after that, but I remember reading and writing Twilight fic on FFN, definitely in middle school. I vaguely recall printing out fic to read in high school, scouring the pre ao3 internet for any flavor of Blood and Chocolate fic. 

I was writing my Cyborg 009 self insert epic in High School, but quit when my only ficc’ish friend refused to read it (BFF had moved states years ago). We also co-write Hellsing fic together, upgrading to a 3 ring binder of looseleaf paper that we passed back and forth in geometry. At some point I also had Pern fic churning around in my notebooks, but ficcish friend’s rejection really hurt my feelings and miiiight be the source of why I struggle to show off anything I write, now that i'm thinking about it, and so in notebooks it stayed.

(I also got to write fic as a creative fiction assignment as a freshman, it was glorious.)

Anyway then I got super depressed and read “real books” in the way normal healthy folk drink water (Like, I took Wheel of Time down, one book per week or less) until i got entrenched in Homestuck and started reading and writing fic again in 2011/12 ish

#meme me up inside #elle-rosewater